על המעשר. רבי אלעזר ברבי יוסי אומר: על לשון הרע. אמר רבא ואיתימא רבי יהושע בן לוי: מאי קראה — ״והמלך ישמח באלהים יתהלל כל הנשבע בו כי יסכר פי דוברי שקר״.
for neglecting to separate tithes. R' Elazar, son of R' Yosei, says: Askara comes as punishment for slander. Rava said, and some say that it was R' Yehoshua ben Levi who said it: What is the verse that alludes to this? “But the king should rejoice in God; every one that swears by Him should glory; for the mouth of them that speak lies should be stopped” (Psalms 63:12). The punishment for lying is that the mouth will be stopped. Askara affects the mouth along with other parts of the body.
איבעיא להו: רבי אלעזר ברבי יוסי על לשון הרע קאמר, או דילמא אף על לשון הרע נמי קאמר? תא שמע: כשנכנסו רבותינו לכרם ביבנה היה שם רבי יהודה ורבי אלעזר ברבי יוסי ורבי שמעון נשאלה שאלה זו בפניהם: מכה זו, מפני מה מתחלת בבני מעיים וגומרת בפה? נענה רבי יהודה ברבי אלעאי ״ראש המדברים בכל מקום״ ואמר: אף על פי שכליות יועצות, ולב מבין, ולשון מחתך — פה גומר. נענה רבי אלעזר ברבי יוסי ואמר: מפני שאוכלין בה דברים טמאין. דברים טמאים סלקא דעתך? אלא שאוכלין בה דברים שאינן מתוקנים. נענה רבי שמעון ואמר: בעון ביטול תורה.
A dilemma was raised before those who were sitting in the study hall: Did R' Elazar, son of R' Yosei, say that askara comes as punishment only for slander, or perhaps he said it was also for slander? Come and hear a resolution to this dilemma from that which was taught in a baraita: When our rabbis entered the vineyard in Yavne, R' Yehuda, and R' Elazar, son of R' Yosei, and R' Shimon were there, and a question was asked before them with regard to this plague of askara: Why does it begin in the intestines and end in the mouth? R' Yehuda, son of R' Ila’i, who was the head of the speakers in every place, responded and said: Even though the kidneys advise, and the heart understands, and the tongue shapes the voice that emerges from the mouth, still, the mouth completes the formation of the voice. Therefore, the disease begins in the same place that slander begins and it ends in the mouth. R' Elazar, son of R' Yosei, responded and said: This disease ends in the mouth because one eats with it non-kosher things. They immediately wondered about this: Does it enter your mind to say that askara is caused by eating non-kosher food? Are those who eat non-kosher food so numerous? Rather, it comes as a punishment for eating foods that were not ritually prepared, i.e., were not tithed. R' Shimon responded and said: This disease comes as a punishment for the sin of dereliction in the study of Torah.